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Synopsis

Call this old age, extreme edition: Seven players with 620 years between them compete in the Over 80 World Table Tennis Championships in China's Inner Mongolia. British players Terry, 81, who has been given a week to live, and Les, 91, a weightlifter and poet, are going for the gold. Inge, 89, from Germany, has used table tennis to paddle her way out of dementia. And Texan Lisa, 85, is playing for the first time. Ping Pong is a wonderfully unusual story of hope, regret, friendship, ambition, love — and sheer human tenacity in the face of aging and mortality.

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Critical Acclaim

Remember must-see TV? For older folks, those days are gone as the new fall television season again features a lineup of youth-oriented dramas, adolescent comedies and reality shows...Fortunately, PBS has...alternatives for the Act 2 set: Ping Pong.

— Peter King, Newsday

Hartford's film has all the elements of classic sports movies: a major stadium . . . an opening ceremony with a parade of flags, national TV news coverage . . . knockout rounds and mounting tension...

— Gary Drevitch, Huffington Post

A charming and even inspirational doc...Ultimately it doesn't really matter who wins and who loses. You are grateful for the opportunity to have walked for a while in their orthopedic sneakers, and to experience their undiminished zest for life...

— Rob Salem, The Toronto Star

Who could have imagined there were people over 100 years old with more passion and determination than most people one-fifth their age! The film is baffling, inspiring and sweet, and it's wonderful to see how ping-pong has transformed their lives...